


Valor

by MoonlitPaladin (MoonlitStardust)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mass Effect, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Sweetness, Mass Effect AU, VLD Ship Positivity Week, mentions of injury, plance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 23:53:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10729911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlitStardust/pseuds/MoonlitPaladin
Summary: Saving a teammate earns Pidge a trip to the hospital, thankfully Lance never left her side.





	Valor

**Author's Note:**

> VLD Ship Positivity Week -  
> April 25th, 2017 (Heartbreak/Recovery)

Lance idly sipped from his bottle of water as he watched the shuttle taxis glide through the air towards the end of the ward, his mind focused elsewhere as the artificial clouds in the citadel’s sky hologram leisurely crawled overhead. No matter how much he tried to force himself to relax, he was still on edge. His gaze refocused and he looked at the massive glass wall that he sat in front of, eyes skimming over the large letters etched into the glass; ‘ _Huerta Memorial Hospital_.’ There was a constant flow of doctors and nurses in and out of the lobby, many of whom offered him a polite smile or wave as they passed as he’d become something of a permanent fixture in the previous two weeks.

“Lieutenant?”

Lance immediately got to his feet and slammed back the rest of his drink before tossing the empty bottle into the trash. The nurse, an Asari by the name of Gira, motioned towards the door to the rooms.

“We’ve finished resituating her. The doctors think that she should be waking up soon and you’re free to rejoin her.”

“Thank you,” he said politely, inclining his head slightly before he straightened and strode over to the doors separating the lobby from the intensive care unit of the hospital.

He’d followed the walkway so often that it was a little bit of a surprise that he hadn’t worn a path in the grey tile leading to the first large room on the right of the hallway. The entire right wall of the room was glass and afforded an incredible view at the wide, open, space of the Citadel’s many wards. The shuttle taxis zipped by above them and manufactured sunlight gleamed off of the beautiful rippling lake beneath them and blazed in to light the room. His only interest as he walked into the room, however, was the figure lying motionless on the elevated hospital bed next to the glass. Lance closed the door behind him and approached the bed.

The bruises that had once covered much of her shoulder and throat had dulled considerably, a slight yellow tint remaining as the only indication that they’d ever been there to begin with. Her hair was messy, clinging to the pillow behind her in an abstract tawny halo, and her eyes were still closed. She looked so frail and small lying there and his heart squeezed at the sight. He’d only left her side when the staff had to change her bedding or run more tests, never staying gone more than a few minutes unless he was forced out. He couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her.

“Pidge,” he called out when he saw her fingers twitch against the railing of her bed.

Her brow furrowed at the sound of his voice and she swallowed thickly, lashes fluttering as she slowly opened her eyes. Her left hand began to rise from her sling and, before Lance could stop her, she tried to raise it up to wipe at her weary eyes.

“Lance? Where am- Ah!”

Immediately she cried out, gritting her teeth as her arm fell back to her side.

“What in the hell,” she hissed, looking down at the bits of bandage peeking out from beneath her gown.

“Easy, Pidge,” Lance said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, “you need to be careful with that arm. Do you remember what happened?”

“I can barely remember my own name right now,” Pidge groaned with a huff as she let her head fall back to the pillow and loll to the right so that she could look up at Lance, “all I know is that the last thing I remember, we were taking down a group of Batarian slavers off in the Attican Traverse.”

“You don’t remember what happened during the fight?”

“I remember you yelling that one of them almost shot you in the ass,” she managed with a tiny smirk, caramel hued eyes crinkling with the motion.

“Leave it to you to remember the important parts. I want you to think back and see if anything comes to you. How about Hunk, do you remember anything about-“

“Hunk!”

Pidge sprung into a sitting position, groaning as the spontaneous motion put pressure on her shoulder.

“Is he okay? Where is he?”

With a chuckle, Lance patted her good shoulder.

“He’s fine thanks to you. You remember now?”

With a firm, albeit gentle, push, he forced her back against the bed.

“We’d been spread thin with Shiro corralling the colonists and Keith watching his back. You were up on the bluff helping us ferret out their hiding places….”

She blew an unsteady breath through her teeth.

“…and Hunk’s gun jammed. He wasn’t paying attention and a Batarian had a clear shot on him and took it.”

“You pushed him out of the way and took the full brunt of the shot with your left shoulder,” Lance finished, “and the blast knocked you into a boulder. You suffered a concussion and a broken clavicle. They had to do realignment surgery in addition to stitching up your shoulder. You’re lucky, you nearly bled out before we could get you here. They’re talking about giving you a commendation for exceptional bravery in the field.”

Her eyes closed and she was quiet for a moment.

“I don’t care about that, I’m just glad that he’s okay.”

“He’s fine but he has been worried about you. We’ve all been worried about you. It was touch and go for a while there,” he murmured, smiling a little when she opened her eyes and met his gaze, “you scared the shit out of me Katie.”

Her gaze softened and she reached up with her right hand, pausing just short of his jaw before she let it fall back to the bed. Without a second though, Lance reached over to take her hand, intertwining their fingers.

“What about regulations,” she murmured, looked down at their clasped hands, “ _lieutenant_.”

Though they both knew that she was right, there was a pleasure in the sweet smile on her lips that made the act of rebellion worth it. When he’d seen her take the shot meant for Hunk, her body lifting from the ground with the impact and slamming into that rock formation, his mind had gone blank. He’d felt his entire being run cold and, in a fit of rage, he’d lined up his shots and taken down every Batarian he could find. Shot after shot, pull after pull, bodies fell in the valley and he’d thirsted for blood. They had hurt Pidge, _his Pidge_ , and he wasn’t content to let the mission run its course, no; then he would have it his way.

Under the Alliance Navy mandate, fraternization among officers was forbidden and, though that was often overlooked, it was scrutinized more heavily if rumors involved two officers aboard the same ship. They’d done their best to keep their feelings for one another hidden and, for nearly a year, they’d been mostly successful. Though, after having bonded with their crewmates, it had been almost impossible to keep it hidden. One ill-planned night of drinking on the citadel after a battle had ended with the pair of them being seen by their commander locked in a sloppy embrace in the elevator.  Shiro had donned his best stern expression and given them a hell of a fright for all of thirty seconds before a laugh broke through and he had shaken his head.

“In compliance with the Alliance code of conduct, I should be separating and demoting the both of you. As your commander and your brother in arms, however, all I have to say is that as long as you’re professional and keep the affection private, you’re both adults and it’s none of my business. As a friend, though, I’m just going to say one thing; _finally_.”

They’d been completely shell-shocked by the knowledge that all of their crewmates had been keeping bets on how long it would take before they finally got together.

“You two bicker like an old married couple,” Hunk had said when he’d found out, laughing as he’d worked on one of the drive coils, “it’s about time.”

Keith hadn’t even blinked an eye at the news, snorting as he’d finished oiling his blade, “took your sweet time.”

Even the ship’s A.I. hadn’t been impressed.

“Oh, so Shiro won the bet,” was all she’d had to say.

Since that day, the two had found an unshakable bond and, in doing so, also formed a close knit group with their fellow crewmates. There had been challenges in the field, like having to remember that Pidge could take care of herself in battle and that she didn’t need him breathing down her neck. Pidge had endured problems of her own, like trusting his own skills to keep him safe when he was alone on a ridge with a rifle. They struggled with each other’s recklessness but when the missions were over and they could take a breath again, there was only pride and love and the sheer thankfulness that they’d made it through together.

“Fuck regulations,” Lance shrugged, reaching up with his free hand to push back her mess of bangs and place a kiss to her forehead, “I thought that we might have lost you; that _I_ might have lost you.”

There was a sudden sheen of tears before her eyes when he pulled back but she quickly blinked them away and offered him a watery smile.

“It’ll take more than a handful of Batarian slavers to take me down. I don’t know if you know, but I’m sort of a badass.”

“Five-foot-nothing and one hundred and ten pounds of total badass,” Lance agreed, grin widening when she scrunched up her face at him.

“You should get some more rest,” he added, hand sliding down so that he could rub the pad of his thumb over her cheekbone.

“You’re the one who should get some sleep,” she quipped even as she yawned, gaze sliding over his face to take in the stubble on his chin and the bags under his eyes, “you look like hell.”

“Aw, thanks, I think you’re really pretty too.”

“Idiot,” she whispered affectionately as she nestled into the mattress, tilting her chin up with an expectant, sleepy, look on her face.

“That’s what they say,” he chuckled, leaning down to ghost his lips over her own, “mostly you though.”

Her eyes were already closing when he pulled back.

“Will you be here when I wake up,” she asked quietly, teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

Lance squeezed her hand and brought it to his lips, dusting her knuckles with kisses.

“Always.”


End file.
